Maud Railway Museum open this weekend

Morag Kuc

Maud Railway Museum sees its next open weekend on Saturday/Sunday, August 12 and 13, and will then open on the second weekend of each month until October.

Opening times are from 10.30am to 4pm on both the Saturday and Sunday. Entry is free but a donation or a purchase from the sales counter would be appreciated.

Parking is available adjacent to the museum which also welcomes many of its visitors as cyclists using the Formartine and Buchan Way.

As well as displaying a large number of items, ephemera, and photographs relating to the former Buchan Railway lines which connected Aberdeen and Dyce with Ellon, Fraserburgh and Peterhead the museum is also home to the fully restored railway carriage which was used to carry convicts from Peterhead prison to the quarries at Stirlinghill where granite for building the Peterhead Harbour of Refuge was quarried.

Awaiting restoration is a munitions wagon which was used at various naval dockyards in the earlier part of the 20 th century. Added to the display for 2017 is a scale Meccano Model of the locomotive ”Gordon Highlander” built by Mr Sandy Shirras of Alford and for three seasons shown in Grampian Transport Museum at Alford.

The prototype of this engine was built in 1920 for the Great North of Scotland Railway and it and similar engines were used on the line until the 1950

The museum always welcomes donations of photographs and local railway relics and is seeking to recruit new members and volunteers. In recent months some extremely rare images showing West Cults and Aberdeen Holburn Street stations have been made available by visitors.